Toronto

I love going to Toronto. Everytime I go, it's like I discover something new. The city is so big, and there's so much to do, it's literally like I'm a tourist each time. It's also great that my cousins take me to slightly different places each time, so I get to explore even more.

I was in Toronto 2 weekends ago, and since the Sunday was so gorgeous out, we decided to park the car in Yorkville and walk everywhere else.

We managed to walk alongside the St. Patrick's Day parade route, and had to cross their path a couple times to get to stores we wanted to peruse.

It was so beautiful out, we walked from Yorkville, zig zagging our way to Eaton Centre. Then back around to Spadina up Chinatown, before making out way back to College to go to Fran's!




Needless to reiterate: our meals were delicious! =D

Monkey Toasts

A couple weeks ago, I went in to Toronto for the weekend to hang out with my cousins, Winnie and Sharon. Winnie's birthday was a couple days before, so we decided to head out for dinner and a comedy club of her choice.

We ended up at Banjara Indian Cuisine, which, by the way, was absolutely DELICIOUS. It's even better than Diwa Classic here in Guelph, and I really like that place...

Anyways, the place was packed, fueling my comment that it was a great place to eat.

After dinner, we walked around the Queen St W area because it was a beautiful cool night. When it was about good timing, we headed to Comedy Bar with our tickets to Monkey Toasts!

I like live comedy, but haven't been out to see a lot of it because not many of my friends are interested in it. Glad my cousins are up for anything! It was a great show, with three guests (John Catucci, Mike Layton and Marnie McBean).

It was pretty cool, because Marnie is an Olympic medallist for Canadian rowing and she shared her experiences on that. Mike Layton is the Trinity-Spadina city councillor, and John Catucci is on the Food Network!!

I definitely hit up John Catucci afterware for a photo and the chance to ask him about being on the Food Network, how he got to where he is now, etc. Although he didn't have the authority to get me a show on the network, he was interesting to talk to and an overall awesome funny guy.

Me with John Catucci!

William Fitzsimmons

Don't be alarmed by the massive facial hair. He's safe.

LOL.

Last month, Jer and I ventured into Toronto one fine Friday evening to go see William Fitzsimmons in concert. We left a bit earlier, so we could go somewhere for a bite to eat. Along the way there, he decided on going to an oyster bar. I recall seeing that Oyster Boy was only a few blocks from The Great Hall, so we found a parking spot at the nearby Green P and walked over.

It was a nice evening and at one point, we were walking behind the great man himself! That was exciting for me, especially since I didn't notice. Jer had to point out to me that the "disgusting smokers" we were walking behind, was William and some other people I could only assume to be in his band (turns out it was his band manager and the opening act).


The oysters were delicious of course (St. Simon variety from New Brunswick).

Oh, yes. The concert was absolutely fantastic too.

We got back to Guelph really really late/early. Aka, sleep timeee =D

Holidays!

I was on holidays back home from Dec 23 - Jan 5.

All I'll say about being home was that it was a lot more time than I was expecting!

Asia Day 16: Home!

October 8
Finally, the day came that it was time to go home. My flight was just after lunch, so we headed to the airport mid morning so I could make it through the pesky customs line in good time. I had some money left over so I tried to spend it as best I could.

Obviously, I bought a Hello Kitty phone charm. Clearly the best use of money.

My trip was great, made better by all the appearances by family. I don't know if I'll go back in the next few years, but it'll be on my list of places to return to eventually!

Movie list for the flight home?

• Bon Cop Bad Cop
• Mr. Popper's Penguins
• Transformers: Dark of the Moon
• Just Go With It
• Bad Teacher

Clearly I didn't sleep on the plane. Unlike my flight TO Hong Kong, my flight BACK did not have a free seat next to me. In fact, I probably had the worst seat possible. I was in the middle seat of the middle row in the plane. Next to 2 asian guys who were keen on overstepping the armrest into my seat. Also, I pee A LOT!!! =(

By the end, the lines to go to the bathroom were over 10 minutes long! And there was only ONE LADY in front of me!!!

I met a lovely man in the line (har har hilarious) who turns out had circled the globe in the last 2 weeks. Wow!

We chatted while in line before getting back to our respective seats. I waited for him when we got off the plane and we chatted until my luggage came off the carousel (which was a very very long time =[) We switched cards and I guess we... are fb friends now?!

Anyways, I am glad to be back home! And I believe I am now caught up in my blog posts! Yahoooooo...

Asia Day 14-15: Hong Kong

October 6
The last few days went by quickly. We were winding down and starting to organize suitcases for the packing fiasco that was barreling towards us at lightning speed.

I was finally able to get time away from my parents, so I spent it shopping by myself at the nearby Olympian City.

I got some time to myself, to think, and to really look at/buy things I wanted.

I got to have Japanese for lunch and bought a few things for myself. That made my happy.


My happiness is always shortlived, we were having dinner with some people I didn't know that evening.

My uncle had us meet him at the mall above the Mong Kok East station. We walked around for a bit and he showed me Goldfish Street (金魚街) before heading to the restaurant.

Lucky me, we were at a seafood restaurant. A large portion of the dinner was seafood, aka. food for me!

How do you buy your goldfish?

The family that invited us to dinner was my uncle's oldest (and youngest) daughter's godparents. They have two sons who were also there, the older married one also had his wife in tow. Among others, there was my aunt, uncle, the newlyweds, my aunt's sisters and one of the kids and husband.

We were a big table, and I was paired to sit next to my cousin (who came a bit late). On my other side was one of the godparents' kids. Turns out he went to UC Riverside, so we had a somewhat intellectual conversation. He was in business, so I clearly we had no real business delving into each other's respective fields.

Dinner was good and it was nice to see everyone before we left in a couple days.

October 7
If memory serves me right, this was the day we had dimsum with my aunt and her side of the family that was in town. After that, we walked Olympian City (again for me) before calling it a day some time mid afternoon. The evening was taken up with my uncle once more, where he took us to Carp Channel (鯉魚門).

It is so named, because the street only contains two types of stores:

• restaurants, and
• fish markets

All fish markets also have very large very old karp. A few of the fishmongers were fond of showing me that if you threw a small fish in the air towards them, these humongous fish would jump up with lightning speed to catch and eat it.

I. Was. Terrified.

Anyways, we walked the street and my uncle showed it all to me. We were waiting for my cousin to arrive to pick the food and a restaurant. He phoned to say he was near, so we picked out our food and picked a restaurant.

Oh. Right. I should explain that.

The restaurants don't actually have any food in terms of protein. Their service is, a chef to cook your meal. Your meal, being what you purchase at the fish market.

Let me explain via photos.

You choose what you want to eat from the tanks (above and above)...

Then they bring them to the restaurant in bags...

Then they cook them all up for you the way you like!

Sooooo delicious I was definitely seafood bellied for a couple days! =)

Asia Day 13: Macau

October 5

After feeling horrendous from the bus ride at the Peak, I semi-recovered to make it on the boat ride to Macau. The sickness from the evening before was unfortunately timing, because we had already pre-planned the day in Macau and had 3 tickets for a Franco Dragone show.

Ergo... I had to grin and bear it for our day in Macau.

After docking in Macau, my dad thought he'd be super clever and sneak a free shuttle ride to a random hotel near the touristic district. Unluckily, my dad isn't quite as clever as he would like and led us to a hotel shuttle that wasn't very close by at all. Aka. The Grand Lisboa.

Nevertheless, I was glad to just be off things that moved and happily made the walk from the hotel to the tourist district.

The architecture is old and grande and beautiful, heavy on the Portuguese influence. The big colourful flower decorations on the ground behind the fountain are decorations for National Day (October 1). The week long celebration had run through and the decorations were being taken down.

I don't remember what street it was that the fountain was at, but we were on our way to the Ruins of St. Paul. We eventually made it there (amidst the throngs of people) and also headed up behind it to the Fortaleza do Monte. There, I got to sit on a cannon. Seriously.

It looks like fun and games, but this was initially a centre for protecting Jesuit property. Eventually it was seized by the government for Macau defense (aka. the Portugese colony). It's seriously old (1600s) and is in pretty darn good shape. A museum like thing has even been built in the centre of the fort.

The reason we went to Macau though (as alluded to), was for a performance. Franco Dragone used to direct nearly all large Cirque du Soleil shows but left some time before 2000. One of his latest shows was playing at the City of Dreams in Macau, billed as a $2 billion HKD production. It is the largest permanent water based show and was quite spectacular to see. It wasn't as large a production as some Cirque shows I've seen before, but the sheer volume of water that the stage holds and the impressive stage changes that occur underwater and reveal themselves, was magnificent. I truly enjoyed the show and was very glad that we were just a few rows up enough that we didn't get wet.

I have photos, but will not be posting them because I don't want to be getting in any trouble. The internet is a scary place, y'know...

FoodNetwork Delicious! Food Show

I know I've been totally behind on my posts, but I will be getting them all up soon! As of right now, I have completed my thesis for a total of 90 minutes. I haven't sent it out because I am waiting to get to school tomorrow so I can print the massive bugger (230 pages!!). So in the meantime, I am catching up on everything else in my life (aka. cleaning my room and calling my mom. yikes!)

Next on the docket, updating my blog. So here goes!

After the Kate Voegele concert that I wrote about a while back but that really happened like 3 weeks ago... we got a good night's rest before heading back down to the same general area (DT Toronto) for the Food Show.

I was super excited for both the concert and the food show, so now onto part 2 of my wonderful weekend.

I think we got to the Food Show just after 11, so plenty of time to walk around before heading to see the sustainability speaker from Stratford's Simple Fish Company. The talk was at 1230 and not 12 like I expected, so we had an extra 30 minutes to walk around, where I pretty much saw everything and ate it all with my eyes.

The talk was pretty good, he talked about other types of fish that are great for sustainability in this area, and did a lot of up talk about his business too (can't say I blame him). He cured some salmon for us to eat and shucked an oyster for everyone in the crowd. Delicious! Adam had his first fresh raw oyster and let's just say he didn't dislike it (that's still a hurray in my books!).

We did a good chunk of wandering around and eating and I definitely have my favs.

• St. Phillips - their cakes make me want to die and go to bakery heaven
• Marcys - their sea salt and pepper calabrese crisps... TO DIE FOR!
• Bobette & Belle - such creative girls and I love their passion for bakery treats!

There are so many stores I could name that were just delicious but I won't to save the internet from my droolings over delicious food.

I was saddened I missed Lynn Crawford. I'll just have to attend another food outing and try to catch her again. I'm obviously way too poor to eat at any of her restaurants, so I think running into her and getting autographs/photos would be my best bet.

But for now, here's some food porn for you all.

Entirely chocolate!

Oh, St. Phillips Bakery, I envy you.

Delicious!

After the Food Show, we were meeting my cousins for dinner at Epicure (Queen St W). We walked most of the way there, and with some extra time, I got to head into the Winners that is directly across the street. Hurray! I love Winners!

Also, I love delicious food. Although I got a seriously spicy dish for dinner, it was still very yummy (or at least, from what I could tell after my tastebuds had been singed off). We had interesting conversations, in fact multiple ones at the same time (as we always do), and I'm sure Adam's head was reeling after that. My cousins and I are quite good at having multiple conversations simultaneously. I can't say that it's the Bach genes though, because my maternal side cousins and I do the same thing. Hrm, perhaps it's the asianness in us...

Dinner at Epicure was great, I certainly do like that little restaurant, but it was time for us to head home because we had to get back to Ildiko's little engagement party shindig. Albeit an informal one (and we will be arranging a formal one), it was nice to have a little get-together where (for once!) Greta was there! Hurray for only going home every other weekend.

Certainly it was a busy busy weekend =)

Kate Voegele!

So I was super excited for this concert since I knew she was coming (months ago!) and the date had finally arrived!

I had planned it out with my aunt that we would drive to the concert Friday night, but stop in after it was over for a good night's rest. The next day, I had tickets to the FoodNetwork's Delicious! Food Show and was super hyped about that too! What a great weekend in Toronto!

The concert was listed to start at 730 but it began at 7. There were 2 opening bands, Grady *something* and Michou. I had heard Michou before and really liked them live, so I bought their CD after the show and got it signed too! The guys from the band are laid back and great and it definitely showed on stage.

After the openers, Kate Voegele was up! I knew she was thin, but couldn't believe how much more than I thought. Anyways, she was great and it was an awesome show.

Here are some photos of the night.

More on my trip to the FoodNetwork Show in a later post!

Asia Day 10-12: Hong Kong

October 2
After arriving back in Hong Kong the night before, we checked in at the hotel (Holiday Inn Express in Causeway Bay) and just kind of.. relaxed (in reality, I don't really remember what we did, except the sushi I got...).

We were staying in a hotel directly behind Times Square (時代廣場), as in, it was very busy there. Also, conveniently close to SOGO (崇光百貨), a popular shopping "faux" department store that I wasn't particularly fond of.

Anyways, back on track, this was the day we went to Ocean Park (海洋公園)!! I was super stoked about this because I thought the roller coaster would be up and running. However, it was a rainy day, and I was informed by my cousins that it has been shut down because of an accident in the previous weeks (a cart ran into an empty one being loaded).

Back to the story, I saw enough of pandas to keep me satisfied for a few years (above), I suppose. There was also a dolphin show, a goldfish exhibit and obviously the underwater creatures (seahorses, fish, sharks, jellyfish, etc.).

That took most of the day and we went back to Causeway Bay where my uncle treated us to hotpot dinner. Oh man did it ever feel good to eat something I am used to. Also, the deliciousness.

Some more walking around Causeway Bay and we were beat.

October 3
The next day was pretty relaxing. We went to Wan Chai (灣仔) for some sight seeing and shopping in that area. We went into the HK Convention and Exhibition Centre (香港會議展覽中心) and walked all the way along to Sheung Wan (上環). I treated my parents to dimsum somewhere along the way and we generally had a pretty easy day.

I'm pretty sure this was the evening we used to move back to our original hotel in Mong Kok (Cosmo Hotel).

October 4
The Tuesday was spent committed to the shopping in the Mong Kok (旺角) area. The malls look small from the outside, but it is deceivingly large. Multiple floors up and small store fronts = lots of stores to enter!

I discovered Lamingtons at a Hong Kong bakery (#communitychannel!) and fantastic food shopping along Tai Kok Tsui (大角嘴). It was a pretty relaxing day before we went to the Peak Tram (山頂纜車) in the evening.

My uncle decided we should head up the Peak Tram to see the Hong Kong night view, so we waited a disgustingly long 1.5 hours to get on the tram to head up the mountain. After getting to the top, I was horribly hungry where we sat down for yummy dinner at a diner in the building. The red bean ice was soo delicious, as was my super hot soup.

Unfortunately for me, the bus ride down the mountain left me feeling more than just ill and it was a quick jog to the bathroom to spit up. That's what I get for following me uncle to the second deck of the bus that goes in circles down the mountainside... -sigh-

Hong Kong atop the Peak

Asia Day 8-9: Taipei, Taiwan

September 30
Day 2 in Taipei and we started at some fancy hotel called "The Grand Hotel" (圓山大飯店). We wandered around, took photos, used the bathroom, then headed to a place that has guards (萬古流芳). Sorry I don't know the name in English, but it is guarded by 4 guards (left) who take 1 hour rotations and have a 20 minute long elaborate protocol when they are switching guards. It was quite entertaining to watch.

This is when my camera battery dies, so the rest of this day is not quite so well documented. My dad's photos indicate we went to the jade market, I know neither the English or Chinese name at this point, but I remember the man who worked in there deciphered my chinese name and basically told me I was obnoxiously stubborn and need to learn to listen to people.

After that, we went to Jiufen (九份), a very mountainous area with a single street up at the top that is very busy. The street is lined with shops and food places just like at night markets.

We went to Ximending (西門町) for dinner on the last night. Technically speaking, it is a neighbourhood and shopping district, but it might as well have been called another night market because it was all street food (aka. getting very sick of eating the same thing).

Somewhere along the way in Taipei (either this day or the day before) we went to the hot springs (北投椰林溫泉). I don't know the name in English and a quick google search did not turn up any English. I don't remember which day this happened because I did not participate in this part. It was a mandatory no-clothing hot spring and despite the temptation of a private room, I heard from some of the girls on the tour that it wasn't that clean. No loss there, I don't like going in and out of hot spring tubs set at different temperatures to experience the "maximum effect".

October 1
We were given some free time in the morning before our flight, so we took our time getting up and walked the neighbouring streets.

Things to note:

• I do believe meat is hanging at the street side stalls from morning until night in scorching temperatures (below). How do YOU feel about leaving your meat out to defrost all day?
• Also note in the photo (below) how you can buy your clothes in the store and then walk out to get your meat for dinner. How convenient!
  
• I don't think grocery stores exist in Asia. Everyone buys things from the street stalls.
• Stores don't open until like noon. Argh.
  

Hanging meat - very VERY common...

Goodbye tour-guides!

Asia Day 7: Taipei, Taiwan

September 29
Upon reaching Taipei (I can't remember if anything happened during the Taichung-Taipei drive), we went to Taipei 101 (台北101). When it opened in 2004, it was the world's tallest building, and remained so until Dubai built on that was taller in 2010. The architecture is pretty amazing.

Side note: I basically had to lie on the concrete floor to get this photo (left). In Taipei on a bloody hot September afternoon (it was 36C that day), the concrete literally burned my skin.

Following Taipei 101, we went to Vigor Kobo (維格餅家) for their yummy pineapple mini cakes (鳳梨酥). I believe this wasn't on the itinerary, but we went because many tourists wanted to go get them.

After the detour, we went to the National Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall (國立中正紀念堂) and then the Miramar Entertainment Park (美麗華百樂園) to see their enormous Sky Wheel (摩天輪 - 2nd tallest in Taiwan). Instead of going on the Sky Wheel, we decided to peruse the shopping in the complex and sit down for some Haagen-Dazs (they have actual sit down cafes there!) where I got this delicious creation (right).

After this, we went to the National Palace Museum (臺北故宮) where I nearly forgot about this due to the inability to photos at this location.

Dinner was at Shilin night market (士林夜市) where I was starting to get sick of eating street food... -sigh-

Also for some random (not really) reason, we changed hotels despite being in the same city. I learned after the fact, that we were in very opposite ends of Taipei, so it was best to change hotels. But seriously.. really?! =(

Asia Day 6: Taichung, Taiwan

September 28
We woke up in the morning to some events in Kaohsiung and all the way along the drive to Taichung (臺中).

First thing, we went to some store in Kaohsiung that sells pearls (珍珠養殖中心). Obviously a sponsor of our tour, they were very persistent to get you to buy pearls. My mom had just got some in Shanghai so we weren't going to spend more money on that. They had this other stuff though, that wasn't a turtle, but looked very similar to it. It was made into pill form and was supposed to be very good for you. I don't remember the details, but I bought a box of the pills for my dad to try. Expensive stuff!

After this, we went to Sun Moon Lake (日月潭). The lake is so named because the east side of the lake looks like a sun, the west side like a moon. I, however, fail to see the sun or the moon and just see some blobs in the earth that are filled in with water. Perhaps the map is a bit too literal? Anyways, it is the largest body of water in Taiwan and actually has a little island (Lalu) in it. We had lunch here, sight-saw, then left.

After lunch, we went to Formosan Aboriginal Culture Village (九族文化村). The village has the largest free-fall ride in Taiwan (which I did not venture up) and celebrates the culture of the nine aboriginal tribes in Taiwan.

They had some interesting things to see and their wax sculptures of people were very lifelike (aka. creepy). A lot full of bunnies and some aboriginal singing/dancing show later, we were off.

In Taichung, we went to the Feng Chia night market (逢甲夜市), supposedly the largest night market in the city, also adjacent to Feng Chia University (逢甲大學). Having overdosed on delicious goodness from the night market the night before, I took it easy and went with some noodle soups and no fried goodness. Oh but how I miss the delicious fried foods!

We went to the hotel after the night market where I quickly tried on my new clothes and subsequently passed out. Traveling is hard!

Asia Day 5: Kaohsiung, Taiwan

September 27
We are leaving for Taiwan! We were coming back to the same hotel on the last few days of our trip, so we decided to store luggage there instead of carrying everything to Taiwan and back. With significantly less luggage, we make our way to the airport and jetset off (with the tourgroup, unfortunately).

We land in Kaohsiung (高雄), near the very southern tip of Taiwan. It felt like we did a lot of things that day, but in reality, Asia just operates on a different time system than North America.

We went to Fo Quang Shan (佛光山), the headquarters for one of the largest Buddhist organization. This particular one in Kaohsiung is the largest monastery and one of the largest charity organizations in Taiwan.


After the monastery, we went to the Dragon and Tiger Pagodas (龍虎塔). Our tour guide told us the proper way to go through the pagodas is in the dragon and out the tiger. My mom didn't let me in these because I am born in the year of the tiger and shouldn't be walking out of a dragon... or something... Instead of hanging around that, we decided to walk to see the Spring and Autumn Pavilions (春秋閣), just down the street a little bit.

There wasn't much to do at this stop, so we did a bit of wandering on the other side of the street at the shops. We bought some fruit and I tried to look for Taiwan shotglasses (to no avail).

After this, it was already getting quite late and I was hungry. We were dropped off at the Liuhe night market (六合夜市) for delicious street food dinner. And by delicious, I really mean delicious.

How can you NOT want to shove all those shrimp in your mouth... *droooool*

Finally, after the night market and a lot of food in my stomach, we got to go to the hotel. This wasn't the end of my night though (-sigh-). We had a family friend waiting for us in the lobby of the hotel. I don't think my mom had even met him before so she was going off pictures to know who we were meeting. This"uncle" of mine has lived in Taiwan for decades and used to take care of my uncle (who was in university and the army) like a brother. We went up with them to our hotel room and chatted for what seemed like HOURS (I was tired!). I showed them pictures of all my mom's siblings and whatever else they were talking about. The night had to end at some point though and so we part ways (rather, they left the hotel).

Sleep!!!

Asia Day 1-"4" : Kowloon, Hong Kong

September 23
Yay! I left Toronto with a 19kg suitcase on a 10am flight to Hong Kong. Expected arrival? 1:15pm September 24.... -sigh-

My flight was.... okay. I had an empty seat next to me, so I was lucky. I got to lie down on my pillow with my feet outstretched into the aisle and try to catch some zzz's, but was unlucky on that front. So much for pulling an all-nighter and being zonked out on the 16 hour flight...

My in-flight movie entertainment of choice?

• Something Borrowed
• Hall Pass
• another movie that currently (and still) escapes me

September 24
I arrive at the Hong Kong airport to meet my cousin Chris waiting for me. We meet up, chat, and wait for my parents to arrive from Shanghai the following hour.

After getting to the hotel (Cosmo Hotel in Mong Kok - 旺角丽悦酒店) and my cousin leaving us be, we meet my uncle (mom's brother) in Tsim Sha Tsui (尖沙咀) for dinner at iSquare (國際廣場) and some later evening shopping. I love how everything is open so late! (I later shall probably vent my frustration at how late things open...)

September 25
My cousin Priscilla's wedding, we had dimsum for lunch, did some shopping, went back to the hotel to change, and went to the restaurant for the tea ceremony and dinner reception. Many many hours later are we finally fed... It was such a long day!


September 26
The next day we did some wandering around the Tsim Sha Tsui (尖沙咀) area again. I needed to check out the prices of custom made suits for Adam before it was too late to get one made.

Unfortunately, the prices just weren't quite right so we opted out of it. However, there were some beautiful sights there, including awesomely large tokidoki art pieces (above) and rows of flower boxes orchids lining the streets (below).

Cute tokidoki's and beautiful flowers! I wonder how they get them to bloom so nicely even on the sides of the streets. Damn Hong Kong and their gorgeous weather!

Asia!

Going to Asia! See you in a few weeks!

Toronto

So I took a little trip in to Toronto for the weekend for some quality cousin time and for some prior engagements.

Friday night took me to a Pampered Chef party at Heather's, where I quickly learned / already knew I was far too poor to afford the kitchen gadgetry I would love to have.

After a day organizing the BBQ, an exhausting trip on the Greyhound and then the kitchen party, we cleaned up enough to be able to sleep. Too bad the noise coming from the streetcar and construction down below were enough to keep me tossing and turning all night. I uncomfortably woke up and got ready to head to my cousin's.

We went to lunch at Fresh (Queen and Richmond) and dessert at Le Gourmand. I had to go to MEC to get a travel pillow, so we walked there, then to Nathan Phillips, then to St. Lawrence market and oh so many other places. My feet were screaming and so we sat for a while before going to take the tube at Union.

Dinner was in Scarborough, and our other cousin ditched our celeb spotting adventure, so we scrapped it and stayed home to watch chinese movies instead.

Quality family time was had and I headed home with an ample supply of moon cakes for one person.

Cottage preparations!

To prep for my meal at the cottage, I decided on a simple menu:

• grilled salmon
• cheddar cornbread muffins
• fennel apple salad
• double chocolate biscotti

I didn't get a picture of the cornbread muffins, but suffice to say they were delicious!

double chocolate biscotti - cocoa powder and chocolate chips

Carolyne was making fun of my biscotti photos looking like pieces of poop, but she was gobbling them up all weekend.

The fennel apple salad was easy to make, especially since the dressing was made previously and warmed up coat. I'd say it was a perfectly simple and delicious menu!

Cottage!

The last long weekend of the summer means a trip to the cottage!

We were all in charge of certain meals, so I made sure to plan all that out and get it ready before we left. I spent all Friday night prepping for it (see next post).

We left early Saturday morning, picking Kendra up on the way to carpool up. And off to Pointe Au Baril we went!

A lot was done while we were there including swimming, badminton, boating, seadooing and canoeing. Canoeing was hectic on my stress level due to the waves caused by passing boaters, but I survived!

The sunset at Pointe Au Baril

Thanks to Carolyne for inviting us up!

CNE

I had a lot of fun at the CNE last year, so thought I would head over to it again and show Adam what it's all about. My cousins weren't joining me this year, but Heather was up for it so we had a party gang going!

We went to lunch at House of Gourmet first, where Naeem and Alan came to hang with us. An hour and 4 plates of delicious food later, we were full and needed to get on our merry way.

This guy had one of the most impressive sand sculptures that we could see. It was only the 2nd day of the ex, but what he had already completed was amazing. How does that cloth covering all their faces stand up without support underneath? Amazing...


We also saw Joannie Rochette skating at the ice show they had, and saw the human cannonball guy shoot himself out of the cannon.

How does one get into this sort of career???

The ex was a lot of fun, we played a lot of games and won some prizes. Unfortunately the rides were so expensive by way of individual tickets that we skipped out on them.

I got my yearly fix of mini donuts and walked around the fairgrounds enough to burn off a whole day's worth of calories. It was definitely time to go home.

We watched Fantastic Mr. Fox that evening at Heather's, with some stove popped popcorn (delish!) before literally passing out for the night.

Cluster-cuss!